The subsoil fire and the reactivations keep the Tenerife fire at level 2

The Special Protection Plan for Civil Protection and Emergency Response to Forest Fires of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands (Infoca) has agreed this Friday that, in view of the situation of the Tenerife fire declared on August 15, a continuous fire containment of subsoil, since paveseo can evolve into new reproductions in the interface zone.

This circumstance, together with the permanence of high temperatures and dry air, makes it necessary to maintain level 2 of severity of the fire, so the emergency remains under the direction of the Government of the Canary Islands.

This Friday, the operation will focus its efforts on containing the subsoil fire and the reactivations, which are continuous in the forested area of ​​Santa Úrsula.

The work will also focus on the Ravelo sector, where hot spots remain and the defense lines are to be consolidated, and on the area between Las Hayas, in Tacoronte, and Las Calderetas, in El Sauzal, where reproductions are also recorded. .

On this Friday, 104 firefighting personnel will intervene, including forestry brigades from the Cabildo (Brifor), Intervention and Reinforcement Teams (Eirif) from the Government of the Canary Islands, Firefighters from the Tenerife Consortium, Brif from the Ministry and the UME, together with personnel from Corps and Security Forces, coordination personnel from CECOPIN, CECOES and the General Directorate of Emergencies, as well as the Red Cross.

Their work will be supported from the air by six helicopters that will discharge water where necessary.

The Government of the Canary Islands recalls that the maximum alert situation declared by the General Directorate of Emergencies due to the risk of forest fire in the western islands and Gran Canaria continues to be in force, as well as the pre-alert situations due to haze and high temperatures throughout the archipelago.

The efforts to extinguish the forest fire that affects Tenerife have passed without any relevant incidents during the night of this Friday and the operation continues working in different hot spots, especially in the Ravelo sector, in the area of ​​the Las Aguilillas runway.

The ground extinguishing device deployed last night was made up of 52 members of the BRIFOR of the Cabildo of Tenerife, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and the Tenerife Firefighters Consortium with the support of the security work of the General Corps of the Canarian Police .

The intervention of seven helicopters is planned, which will support the work of the troops deployed on the ground. On Thursday, the aircraft mobilized for extinction tasks carried out 181 discharges in which they used a total of 227,400 liters of water.

The favorable evolution of the weather conditions during the day, in terms of the absence of wind and the maintenance of temperatures, allowed the extinguishing teams to advance the consolidation work in the Las Calderetas area.

Early on, the operation concentrated its efforts on the hot spots in the Mamio area and has continued working in the sectors where reactivations have been taking place since last October 9, El Sauzal, Santa Úrsula and La Orotava.

Both the ground and air teams have focused on attacking the reactivations that have occurred continuously in the Ravelo area and, to a lesser extent, in Santa Úrsula, given that it is a sector with very dry fuel.

In recent days, aerial resources have carried out more than 1,800 discharges with nearly 2,300,000 liters of water.

Although the weather yesterday gave a small respite to the extinguishing teams and the general wind forecast is weak, less than 20 km/h and the breezes will dominate, the Plan management insists on not letting down their guard, as they are expected high temperatures until Saturday, in the extreme northeast, which can mainly affect the high area of ​​El Sauzal and relative humidity levels do not recover until Sunday at more than 400m altitude.

Likewise, it is recalled that the Canary Islands are on pre-alert due to haze and high temperatures, and the Western Islands and Gran Canaria are on maximum alert due to the risk of forest fire.

The island of Tenerife, along with the rest of the West and Gran Canaria, is on maximum alert due to the risk of fire since temperatures are still above 34 degrees, with low humidity and, also, wind.

The fire that is ravaging the north of the island began in August in the Arafo mountains, located in the east, and spread across more than 14,000 hectares in twelve municipalities until it was considered controlled on September 11. However, last week, given the high temperatures that have been recorded for more than 10 days, there were up to three reactivations in a single night, all of them in the municipality of Santa Úrsula, and later, also in La Orotava and El Sauzal, where the active flames are now still active.